Kaine Parker (Earth-616) (Marvel Series)
History Birth The clone that would come to be known as Kaine was the Jackal's first attempt at cloning Peter Parker. Initially thought to be a success, Kaine eventually became deformed due to a flaw in the cloning process. As he continued to degenerate, he was left further deformed and mentally unstable. The Jackal allowed Kaine to live as a test subject, to see how long the clone would survive; it ended up far exceeding his expectations. As a result, Kaine experienced a strong feeling of rejection like that which might arise between a father and son. Kaine left Professor Warren and realized that the partial degeneration had also caused a slight amplification of the powers he had genetically 'inherited' from Peter. His strength, speed, stamina, and agility were comparable to those of Peter, but he also gained precognitive powers as well, which shows him flashes of the future (this new ability has been assumed to be an amplified version of Peter's spider-sense). He also possessed a "Mark of Kaine," a corrosive touch that he used to leave eaten-away hand-prints on his victims' faces. Ben Reilly The Jackal went on to create another clone, the man who would become Ben Reilly. When the Jackal used Reilly against Peter, the ensuing battle left Reilly and the Jackal (really a clone of Warren) for dead. They both managed to survive; the Jackal placed himself into suspended animation in a cloning pod to awaken later, and Reilly left New York upon realizing that he was the clone. Behind the scenes, Norman Osborn managed to have the files on Ben and Peter switched, so that the Jackal would think Peter was the clone and Ben was the real deal.13 Consulting the Jackal's files, Kaine believed the same, so he followed Ben Reilly throughout his 'exile'. For a time, Kaine found love in the arms of police detective Louise Kennedy of Salt Lake City, but when he discovered she was working for the criminals, Kaine's increased cellular degeneration pushed him even further towards insanity. After killing Louise (although a part of him still loved her), Kaine continued to stalk Ben, making it appear as though Janine Godbe, the woman Ben had come to love, had committed suicide and then framed Ben for various murders that Kaine had committed, as Kaine and Ben had the same fingerprints. Kaine hoped that by doing this, he would be able to give Peter, whom he still believed to be the clone, the life which Kaine could never have. Return to New York When Ben returned to New York to visit a sick Aunt May (later revealed to be a genetically-altered actress), Kaine followed. By this time, Kaine had become a feared and respected mob hit-man.16 When he discovered that Ben was in the city, he hounded him to try and prevent Ben from involving himself in Peter's life. It was at this time that Kaine's enhanced spider-sense warned him that someone would kill Mary Jane and because of this Kaine went on a killing spree--killing anyone who seemed a potential threat. Among those he killed were villains Doctor Octopus,17 and the Grim Hunter.18 This attracted the attention of Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider, while the wave of killings was put up on police bulletin boards nationwide, leading to Kaine's distinctive M.O. being recognized in Salt Lake City by Louise Kennedy's ex-partner, who immediately left for New York to bring the killer to justice. In a twist, Kaine's attempt to frame Reilly with his fingerprints ended up drawing the police to Peter Parker instead. Parker was arrested for Louise's murder, and could not account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder because he had been Spider-Man at the time. Trial of Peter Parker Peter temporarily broke out of jail, leading to a confrontation between him, Kaine, Reilly, and a fourth Peter Parker. Unaware that Kaine was his clone at the time, Parker suspected Reilly of the crimes, but Ben volunteered to go back to prison in Peter's place, trusting Peter to prove his/their innocence. Peter wanted Kaine to stand trial for what he had done, but Kaine initially refused. The two fought and ended up getting dragged into a mock trial where Spider-Man was on trial, Kaine was his defense attorney, Carnage was the prosecutor, several Ravencroft Institute inmates were the jury, and a powerful being known as Judas Traveller was the judge. During the one-sided trial, Kaine tried to physically fight off all those who were against Spider-Man, before Traveller returned them to their previous place of battle. After an incident involving a super-powered villainess named Stunner, a weakened Kaine still refused to confess to his crimes. Spider-Man responded by knocking Kaine out and webbing him up before heading to the courthouse. Kaine reawakened before they arrived, and struggled again with Spider-Man, while still refusing to confess. At this point, Kaine admitted that he had done everything to protect Peter's life and revealed that he was the first clone of Peter, now partially degenerated. Spider-Man decided that if Kaine would not reveal the truth, then he would reveal his true identity to the entire courtroom and end everything. Kaine pleaded for Peter not to do this, and before Peter could reveal the truth, Kaine confessed to the murders and left the "Mark of Kaine" on the Judge's podium; he was then taken into custody. Maximum Clonage After the trial, Peter and Ben decided once and for all to determine the identity of the real Peter Parker. They used Seward Trainer's lab to do the test, and found that Ben was the original and Peter the clone. However, Seward had altered the results while under the influence of Norman Osborn. This pushed Peter over the edge and, in a fit of rage, he struck Mary Jane when she tried to stop him from killing Ben. Ashamed of what he had done, Peter fled the lab.21 After Peter accepted that he was the clone and Ben was the true Peter Parker, he allied himself with the Jackal. Kaine refused to let him throw his life away, though, and he confronted the Jackal with the full intent of destroying him. The Jackal manipulated Kaine's mind once more, leading him to believe that he could be cured of the flaw triggering the degeneration process.22 Once the Jackal revealed that he had lied again, Kaine left, feeling rejected. He went back to Mary Jane for answers, and after a conversation about power and responsibility, Kaine returned to the Jackal's lab in time to assist Ben in a battle against numerous Spider-clones. In the ensuing battle, Kaine saved the Jackal from Spidercide, but was then impaled on a masonry spike. When Peter asked why Kaine had sacrificed himself, Kaine simply replied, "You gave me life." Curiously, the Jackal then placed Kaine in a regeneration pod.23 When the pod was next seen, it was empty. The Return of Kaine During Reilly's time as Spider-Man, some of the world's strongest fighters were pitted against one another in a fighting competition called the Great Game, a fighting tournament on which wealthy people placed wagers to amuse themselves.25 One of the Game's main sponsors, James Johnsmeyer, found the pod containing the revived Kaine, and decided to initiate him into the competition, sending the Rhino to fight him. After Kaine's refusal and escape (with the help of his temporary partner Shannon), Johnsmeyer still attempted to involve Kaine by allowing other Game competitors Joystickand Polestar to attack him. Spider-Man interfered in the skirmish, but was side-tracked by Joystick and Polestar while Kaine gave the Rhino a near-fatal beating before escaping with Shannon. Before they were able to get away, Spider-Man had managed to tag Shannon with a tracer, and he pursued them once Polestar and Rhino were taken into custody. Spider-Man found them moments before the police arrived, but after an incident that threatened to kill the officers, Kaine and Shannon escaped again.26 This time, Kaine's destination was Johnsmeyer's headquarters. Spider-Man found them once again after Kaine managed to single-handedly destroy all of Johnsmeyer's rooftop security defenses, but once inside, Johnsmeyer revealed that Shannon, who had been working for Johnsmeyer during the entire ordeal, had been manipulating and deceiving Kaine. Kaine, not wanting to become anyone else's puppet, tried to kill Shannon, but was dissuaded by Spider-Man. Kaine left, vowing to take down every sponsor of the Great Game. Kaine's Redemption During a later encounter with Ben Reilly, in which Janine Godbe returned to the man she loved, Kaine finally let go of his hatred for his brother, even saving Ben's life after nearly leaving him to die in a burning diner. Encouraged by his brother's example (and finally acknowledging Ben as his brother rather than his foe), Kaine handed himself over to the law, as Janine, who was wanted for the murder of her abusive father, did the same.28 Several months later, however, he escaped from the Vault alongside other super-powered criminals.29 Kaine broke out to try and stop Norman Osborn after finding out that he was still alive and had masterminded the Clone Saga, and briefly worked against Osborn's agents in southern Europe. Dark Reign Kaine later returned to New York City, attacking Spider-Man as he tried to track down Raptor. He revealed that he had sought Raptor out, hoping that he could cure his cellular degeneration, and attacked Spider-Man to keep him from the villain.32 When Raptor attacked Harry Osborn and Peter's cousins at Aunt May's house, Kaine appeared, having been working with Raptor the whole time. He exposed Peter's identity as Spider-Man, then stated that Peter was a clone of Reilly and should be killed since he was the closest thing to Ben. Peter beat Raptor into unconsciousness and escaped. Raptor had lied to Kaine about being able to cure his degeneration to gain an ally in his quest for revenge. Furious, Kaine broke his neck, seemingly killing him. Grim Hunt Kaine was attacked by Alyosha and Ana Kravinoff for being associated with spiders. However, seeing that he wasn't a true spider, the duo decided to punish him by keeping him alive. Nevertheless, they wounded Kaine severely enough that he fleed to Peter Parker's apartment in search of help. Peter hid him in the bathroom, then left to stop the Kravinoffs. When Kaine next appeared, he had shaved his face and cut his hair, and resembled Peter (albeit with a badly scarred face). When Spider-Man was 'killed' while resurrecting Kraven,34 it was discovered that it was actually Kaine in disguise, and that he had given his life to save Peter. At the end of the Grim Hunt, Kaine was buried as a Parker, but was later seen rising from the dead with mutated features, including extra eyes in a spider-like pattern on his forehead, with the Jackal saying "Rise, cursed one. Rise... Tarantula." Kaine was then further changed by the Jackal into a tarantula-like creature, with his face resembling that of a spider, as well as six red eyes, and four spider-legs growing from his back. Spider-Island The Jackal made him the first of his army of individuals to use during the Spider-Island event. Kaine, however, followed the Jackal merely because he was under his control. In his final confrontation with the original, Spider-Man threw him into a tank filled with "the cure", a concentration of Anti-Venom's symbiote, which was intended to help cure the people of Spider-Island. The cure did more than return Kaine from being a monster, it also stabilized his DNA and made him a perfect clone of Peter Parker, similar to Ben Reilly. Kaine then helped with the retaliation against the Spider Queen, Adriana Soria, in Central Park, moving past Peter Parker's ethical limitations by using lethal force against the Queen. Becoming the Scarlet Spider Earning money from both stopping robbers and committing robberies, Kaine started a trip around the USA to enter Mexico. During his stay in Houston, Texas, he saved a young girl, Aracely, from human traffickers and left her in a hospital.38 A super-powered villain came after Aracely, and Kaine felt that he had to save her instead of leaving Houston. In a scarlet suit similar to Spider-Man's, Kaine faced the Salamander and managed to defeat him, being named by him as "Araña Escarlata" ('Scarlet Spider' in Spanish). When the people at the scene cheered him and told them they needed a hero, Kaine's sense of responsibility for Aracely led him to stay in Houston as Scarlet Spider. In subsequent adventures, Kaine found himself pitted against the Assassins Guild39, the Watchdogs40, and Ana Kravinoff, who tried to kill him in order to free her father from the curse of immortality. Minimum Carnage After Kaine was alerted about Carnage's return and his trip to Texas in order to retrieve something from a NASA research center, Kaine tried to stop him. Kasady managed to use a interdimensional transport called the Prometheus Pit with the help of beings from the Microverse, transporting him there. Venom, who also was following Carnage's steps, joined Scarlet Spider in the search for Kasady, and they were transported to the Microverse by the Prometheus Pit.42 Separated once they passed through the Pit, Kaine was found by a healer called the Redeemer, who was wanted by the Marquis Radu, the leader of Carnage's allies. After betraying his allies, Carnage killed them and started searching for Marquis Radu, crossing paths with Kaine and the Redeemer. Both Scarlet Spider and Kasady were captured and bought to Marquis Radu's base alongside Venom, who had been captured previously along with his allies, the Enigma Force (a team of adventurers who were trying to capture Carnage as well). The Venom and Carnage's symbiotes were replicated and used to create an army which could allow Radu to control the Microverse. Carnage managed to take control over the symbiote army and used it to escape to the regular universe, where he was finally defeated by the combined efforts of Venom and Scarlet Spider, thanks to a special weapon the Enigma Force had given them. After being stung by the Scarlet Spider, Kasady's wounds were cured, but he was left in a catatonic state. The symbiote was now in full control of his body, but Kasady and his symbiote were sedated and incarcerated. The Other After a young victim of human trafficking was found dead, Kaine started hunting down and eradicating human traffickers from Houston, and vowed to use his powers to hunt down monsters like his old self. During his crusade, he found himself facing Carlos Lobo and his sister, who had been responsible for Aracely's abuse. During a battle against the Lobos, Kaine was killed. His body was wrapped in a cocoon made of spider-webs, in a fashion similar to when Spider-Man had died after facing Morlun. Kaine found himself in a vision talking with The Other in its Ero form, who explained that it was the one who had resurrected Kaine after Kraven's Grim Hunt, in order to allow Kaine to embrace it, as Peter Parker had refused its offer. Kaine initially refused the Other's offer, not wanting to become "the Spider" or a monster greater than the one he already was. However, he realized that Aracely still needed his help, and that he therefore had no choice but to embrace the Other, being reborn with augmented powers and a more arachnid-like appearance.46 Kaine forced the Lobo Brothers to flee, as he left Carlos in a death-like state. But with his human nature gone, Kaine almost made Aracely his prey, before she managed to use her powers to make Kaine's human side resurface, reverting him to his human form.47 Kaine returned to his 'normal' lifestyle, as he also started a relationship with Annabelle Adams, the bartender of the Four Seasons Hotel. Finale After settling a debt with the Assassins Guild49 and facing the Jackal and Spider-Man (Otto Octavius), Kaine was confronted by Kraven the Hunter, who began to torture him while dressed as Ben Reilly.50 Kraven wanted to force Kaine to kill him, in order to break the curse that made him unkillable, for which he kidnapped Kaine's friends in order to motivate him. In the end, Kaine delivered a fatal blow to Kraven's chest, paralyzing his heart. Then, using the same attack, Kaine brought him back to life, supposedly still breaking the curse.51 During Kraven's attack, Donald Meland was fatally injured, prompting Wally Layton to search for Kaine's records to try to arrest him. When Wally confronted Kaine in his Four Seasons room, Shathra was revealed to have pinned Kaine down at the same time that Zoe Walsh blew up the room with a bazooka; Zoe did this for revenge against Kaine, who had put her father into a coma weeks ago.52 Kaine managed to rescue everyone in the room (Wally, Annabelle, Aracely, and even Zoe), while killing Shathra. Having turned into a form controlled by the Other in order to defeat Shathra, Kaine realized he had to stop pretending to be a hero, and left Houston. While living off of money stolen from criminals, Kaine and Aracely moved to Mexico in order to discover Aracely's origin. New Warriors Later, in Mazatlan (Mexico), Kaine became the Scarlet Spider again to help Aracely save some tourists from muggers at her insistence. After that, while relaxing at the beach and discussing issues of life, powers and the responsibility they entail, the pair found a dantesque view as blood colored the water and the corpses of Atlanteans and Deviants began to emerge to the surface along an armed blue-skinned girl. She told them she was Faira Sar Namora of Atlantis and that she was seeking heroes.54 Namora had been followed by Evolutionaries, who kidnapped her, as well as Kaine and Aracely.55 They were later rescued by the New Warriors after being taken to Wundagore Mountain,56 and helped the team stop the High Evolutionary from detonating his bomb.57 At first reluctant to join the heroes, Kaine was later convinced by Justice that the New Warriors could help him become a better person. Spider-Verse Kaine was attacked by Daemos of the Inheritors, who easily defeated the New Warriors. Pinned down, Kaine impaled Daemos with numerous spines, and Daemos recognized him as the current reciprocal of the Other. Before Daemos could drain Kaine, Old Man Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Bullet Points Spider-Man, and Ben Reilly from Earth-94 arrived. After seeing Gwen, he thought this was the Jackal's making until being shocked from seeing Ben. With Daemos distracted, Gwen was able to rescue Kaine and they retreated to Earth-13, though Banner was crippled and captured.8 Kaine, along with Ben Reilly and Jessica Drew, later traveled to another universe, from where the cloned bodies that granted the Inheritors immortality came from.58 At the cost of Ben Reilly's life, Kaine and Black Widow managed to shut down the facility, which was run by the Inheritor Jennix.59 Fueled by rage for Reilly's death, Kaine traveled to Earth-001, the base of the Inheritors, to take revenge on them. Drawing on the Other's full power, Kaine transformed into a monstrous creature and was able to kill the leader of the Inheritors, Solus. Kaine was seemingly murdered when Morlun used one of Kaine's spider legs to stab him on the neck.60 Even though the Spider-Army couldn't save Kaine, they managed to stop the Inheritors once and for all.61 After all of the spiders returned to their respective universes, Kaine started emerging from his Other form's corpse. Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy Initially it appeared that Kaine had been granted a new lease on life. However, while he was being welcomed back to the world of the living by Loomworld's new protector Master Weaver, it was quickly noticed that his cellular degradation had returned. The Other's possession had kept Kaine's condition at bay, but without it his body had begun to deteroriate and turn into a Carrion. The Master Weaver feared Kaine wouldn't be able to return, believing he had now become the carrier of the Carrion Virus, a plague he had noticed affected numerous alternate Earths, turning its inhabitants into zomibe-like creatures. Using the fact that he had already become infected to his advantage, Kaine set out to travel to these infected universes to investigate the plague and find some kind of cure. The only clue as to how did the plague begin was the connection of each reality's Parker Industries to their respective pandemic epicenter. Along with Spider-Woman, the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, Kaine travelled to one of the parallel realities where Peter and Miles Warren had begun to work together in search for a cure, but they were killed by zombies. Kaine managed to find a research note from that world's Peter before his death and intended to go back to Loomword when he was suddenly confronted by an alternate version of himself who had been infected by the Carrion virus. After a brief fight, his counterpart died by the virus and Kaine brought and examined the body and was realized that he was in fact not infected. Kaine and Spider-Woman decided to travel to Earth-616 when it appeared a new cycle of the plague was going to begin, marked by the appearance of New U Technologies in this universe. Once they arrived at Earth-616, Kaine and Spider-Woman infiltrated into New U Technologies' facility and kidnapped the newly-resurrected Gwen Stacy, so Spider-Woman could impersonate her and dig up more information.63 When Spider-Man was informed by Spider-Woman of her and Kaine's plan, he directed Kaine to bring the real Stacy to Horizon University, so they could supply her with some of the pills they were studying that prevented those brought back to life by the Jackal from eventually suffering of cellular degeneration.64 Two of the Jackal's goons, Electro and Rhino, attacked Horizon University in search of the real Gwen. Kaine tried to fight them, but was defeated and taken to the Jackal's secret base as well.65 Kaine was then studied on by Jackal's ally Doctor Octopus, but Spider-Woman, having previously followed them, managed to break him free once chaos erupted in the lab when Doc Ock turned against the Jackal.66 The Jackal, who revealed himself as none other than Ben Reilly, put the world at risk when he broadcasted worldwide a frequency that caused all of New U's patients to break down, beginning the outbreak of the Carrion Virus. Spider-Man, who had joined the conflict by this time, managed to broadcast the opposite signal and stopped the outbreak, reverting back to normal all those who hadn't yet completely broken down.67 With his world saved from the Carrion apocalypse, Kaine decided to hunt down Ben Reilly, whose apparent death at the hands of the outbreak he correctly assumed had been faked. Hunting Down Ben Reilly Kaine's investigation quickly led him to Ben's whereabouts in Las Vegas, where he had returned to his identity of the Scarlet Spider.69 Kaine eventually confronted Reilly and both Scarlet Spiders fought until Ben convinced Kaine to temporarily give up on his quest for revenge. Ben was focusing his efforts on saving the life of Abigail Mercury, a terminally ill child and one of the people New U attempted to replace with a healthy clone. Kaine agreed to let Ben go unless he either succeeded or failed in curing Abigail.70 While in Las Vegas Kaine meets Terry Wright who, after seeing his scarred face, mistook him for a war veteran and invite him to live in her veterans shelter71 which he ended up saving from being sold after helping rescue Cassandra Mercury from kidnapping, and asking her money in return. Kaine became entangled in several of Ben's subsequent adventures in Las Vegas, including a demonic invasion by Mephisto, during which Ben made a deal with him to save Abigail's life in exchange of helping him. When Ben went back on the deal, Mephisto possessed Kaine and had him attack Reilly, but Ben subdued him.75 Ben eventually obtained a cure of Abigail's disease, in the form of a vial containing the blood from the Angel Gabriel, who was the leader of an Earth-based mysterious organization called the Diogenes Initiativewhich operated in Nevada.76 However, when Ben was going to inject Abigail the cure, Mephisto reponded to his past defiance. The demonic lord created a complex deception that stopped Ben from saving Abigail, falling under the belief that the cure would condemn her to an immortal existence at her current age, and he subsequently altered Kaine and Cassandra's memories so that they will try to kill Ben; believing that Ben willingly withheld the cure for his own profit.77After chasing Ben through Las Vegas, Kaine shot him down.78 Due to the nature of Mephisto's meddling, Kaine's memory was restored after killing Reilly and he regretted his actions, unaware that Ben had been subsequently brought back to life. However, his rebirth corrupted Ben into a villainous sociopath. Despite the fact that Mephisto's influence had pushed Kaine into murdering Ben, Ben tracked him down and stabbed him several times, threatening him to get out of Las Vegas if he survived. Notes * Though never explicitly stated within the story, in interviews afterwards the creators revealed that the Mark of Kaine was meant to be analogous to one of Spider-Man's powers, namely the ability to cling to walls. * After Kaine's encounter with Anti-Venom's 'cure', Kaine's degeneration-induced agony faded, and the near madness that came with it. As a result, other aspects of his personality became prevalent for the first time. He shows this through his use of humor in response to Peter's, the "Parker Brothers" comment, and calling dibs on Peter's stealth suit (he didn't want to use the standard costume, due to him being killed the last time he used it, during the Grim Hunt story-line). * He is shown to hate his superhero name,42 possibly due to it last being used by Ben Reilly, a fellow clone. It is noted that Ben was also not very fond of the name, due to it being given to him by the press. * It was revealed that Madame Web locked the stealth suit's look to red, preventing Kaine from changing it back to black (this is why he was called the "Scarlet Spider").88 * Kaine is possibly Catholic.55 * Kaine has the ability to inflict pain on the Inheritors due to his connection to "The Other."9 * Kaine is creeped out by Mister Fantastic's stretching abilities.89 * Currently, Kaine and Ben Reilly are the last known living clones of Peter Parker. * Jackal had plans to clone Kaine Parker to create a Spidercide 2.0.90 * Despite not having The Other, Kaine can turn his eyes red on command, as shown when he interrogated Rita Clarkson. Category:Characters Category:Heroes Category:Males Category:Marvel Category:Marvel Characters Category:Marvel Heroes